Sending care packages overseas is very important to the morale of our troops. But sending regular packages can get expensive. By utilizing the materials offered through United States Postal Service Priority Mail, you can save money!

Priority Mail shipping materials are provided free of charge by the United States Postal Service. You can pick up these materials at any post office or order them online at www.usps.com. If your order online, shipping is also free and materials usually take 7-10 days to arrive at your doorstep. Priority mail materials come in a variety of sizes. Both boxes and envelopes are available.

You can also order packing tape as well as the needed customs forms - all for free. I highly recommend using flat rate boxes for sending packages. These boxes come in two convenient sizes and cost $8.10 to mail no matter how much it weighs. This can be a great money saver and can help you avoid sticker shock when you mail the package!

In addition, you can schedule for the post office to pick up priority mail packages from your house. No more waiting in line at the post office! This can be accomplished by logging onto their website at http://www.usps.com. As long as you schedule the pickup by 2am on the same day, the package will be picked up from your home. You can't beat that.

It should be noted that the 2-3 day delivery guarantee only insures the package will arrive to its destination in the United States in that time period. Beyond that, it is in the hands of the military. But I have found most of my packages make it to their final destination overseas within a week vs. several weeks when using parcel post.

Save money and time by using the priority mail packing materials through the post office!

Stacey Abler is an Army Wife and owner of the website, http://www.marriedtothearmy.com.
In addition, she also operates several Cafepress stores - http://www.cafepress.com/soldierswife for Army families and http://www.cafepress.com/soldierswife2 for Navy, Marine and Air Force families.